Doctor of Public Health, Environmental Scientist and Explorer
sshaw@meriresearch.org

 

Exploration Highlights

• Project Leader/ Principal Investigator, Seals As Sentinels: Assessing the Impacts of Toxic Contaminants in Northwest Atlantic Seals 2000-2010 - the first region-wide investigation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in marine mammals and marine fishes along the northwest and mid-Atlantic coasts (from the Gulf of Maine to Long Island, New York).

  • Project Leader/ Principal Investigator, Pacific Coast Seal Study 1991-1999 - a multidisciplinary investigation of the effects of organochlorine pollutants in Pacific harbor seals and northern elephant seals along the Pacific northwest (Puget Sound, San Juan Islands) and central California coast. Led a 30-member team from nine institutions across the country.

Research Highlight Examples

 

The Seals as Sentinels project is the first extensive region-wide investigation of levels and effects of chemical contamination in species at the top of the northwest Atlantic marine food chain. The State of Maine 123rd Legislature recognized this body of work with a Citation of Recognition in 2007. 

Highlights include:

• First report of the occurrence of brominated flame retardant chemicals (PBDEs, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and HBCD, hexabromocyclododecane) in commercially important marine fishes (hake, herring, mackerel, alewife, plaice, flounder) in the northwest Atlantic ecosystem. First study to demonstrate that PBDEs are readily biomagnified in this marine food web from fish to harbor seals. Biomagnification was pronounced for the persistent hexa-BDEs, especially BDE-153. The results show that the fully brominated deca-BDE (BDE-209) and other highly brominated BDEs accumulate in tissues of fish and seals, indicating that this marine ecosystem has been contaminated by the penta-, octa-, and deca-BDE commercial formulations (Shaw et al. Science of the Total Environment 2009).

• First scientist to reveal that PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals) are accumulating in harbor seals from the NW Atlantic. Some PFCs (PFOS, PFOA) were withdrawn from the market in 2002 because of their cancer-causing effects. The unusual chemical pattern in seal tissues reveals that industry is substituting new, similar PFCs for the old ones that were withdrawn (Shaw et al. Chemosphere 2008).

• First scientist to show that harbor seals from this region carry high levels of brominated flame retardants (PBDEs) in their tissues (Shaw et al. Chemosphere 2008). The study's findings were part of the evidence put before the Maine state legislature in support of the bill to ban DecaBDE from commerce.

• First report of cancer-causing chemicals (PCBs, dioxins, PBDEs) in farmed Atlantic salmon from Maine and eastern Canada that could detract from the beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids. The study contradicts the current paradigm by demonstrating that removal of skin does not consistently lower contaminant levels in farmed salmon and calls for a reassessment of health risks associated with human dietary exposure (Shaw et al. Environ.Sci.Tech. 2006; Shaw et al. Chemosphere 2008).

• First scientist to document current levels of legacy (banned) organochlorine chemicals such as PCBs and DDT in tissues of harbor seals along the northwest Atlantic. Their levels are comparable to those in seals from the Baltic and other polluted seas, and place them at risk for harmful effects such as immune and thyroid disruption, developmental problems, and infectious disease (Shaw et al. Mar.Pol.Bull. 2005).

• First study to demonstrate a link between dioxin-like chemicals and altered immune responses in free-ranging, live-captured harbor seals from the northwest Atlantic. The combined toxic equivalents (TEQs) of chemicals with dioxin-like activity (PCBs, dioxins, furans) in seal blood were significantly associated with enhanced in vitro lymphocyte responses, indicating that these chemicals alter immune function in harbor seals in the wild (Shaw et al. Org. Cmpds 2003). 

Other Projects Organized and Led

• State of the Oceans Forums at the Explorers Club, New York. Chair of a series of forums with Dr. Sylvia Earle to focus world attention on the crisis facing the oceans and promising solutions that need support.

• • The Blue Hill Bay Watershed Monitoring Project, the first water quality monitoring program in one of Maine's larger watersheds. By helping coastal communities identify and reduce point and non-point source pollution, the project contributes to the vitality of the local economy, its fisheries, and sustainable uses of coastal resources.
  • The MERI Ocean Environment Lecture Series and the Elisabeth Mann Borgese Distinguished Lecture to increase public awareness and understanding of critical ocean issues through lectures by international experts and scholars in their fields.

Honors

 

Explorers Club Fellow (FN'07); WINGS World Quest Fellow (WWQF'08)/ Expedition Flag Carrier; Society of Women Geographers; 2007 Gulf of Maine Visionary Award, Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment representing New England states and Atlantic Canada; 2007 Citation of Recognition, State of Maine 123rd Legislature; Commissioned by Ansel Adams to write Overexposure, the first book on health hazards in photography (1983, 329 pp); Fulbright Scholar, University of Chile, Santiago. 

Featured Speaking Events (selected)

 

Chair State of the Oceans Forums: A Call To Action, Explorers Club, New York. Keynote speaker on ocean pollution (POPs), marine mammals and human health at diverse academic, regional, and international venues in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa including the American Museum of Natural History, The Explorers Club, New England Aquarium, Western Academy of Beijing, China, University of California, Berkeley, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan. Session chair, International Dioxin Symposia on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants held in Tokyo, Japan, Oslo, Norway, Berlin, Germany, Toronto, Canada, Birmingham, UK, Venice, Italy, Gyeongju, Korea, Beijing, China; the Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Cape Town, South Africa. In June 2010, she will chair a session on marine and coastal pollution at the Society of Toxicology and Chemistry Asia Pacific Meeting in Guangzhou, China. 

Service to Science & Community

Dr. Shaw is an appointed Faculty Member, Institute for Health and the Environment, University at Albany, New York, and serves on the Editorial Board of the international journal, Reviews on Environmental Health. She also holds appointments on the Gulfwatch Contaminants Monitoring SubCommittee and the Ecosystem Indicator Partnership (ESIP), Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment representing the New England states and Atlantic Canada. She serves as Delegate, United Nations Economic and Social Council on Ocean Pollution, Sustainable Ocean Development, and Marine Affairs, New York, Geneva, and Vienna; and Delegate, Advisory Committee on Pollution of the Sea, London, UK.

Primary Research Interests

Bioaccumulation and biomagnification of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in marine mammals and fishes in the northwest and mid-Atlantic marine ecosystem.  Environmental distribution and fate of contaminants of emerging concern (e.g., brominated flame retardants, perfluorinated chemicals) in marine food webs. Levels, trends, and toxic effects of halogenated organic chemicals in marine wildlife and people.

Education

Dr.P.H. Columbia University, School of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health Sciences
M.P.H.  Columbia University, School of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health Sciences
M.F.A.  Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts/ Film Division

Curriculum Vitae

 

Selected Publications

Author of numerous peer-reviewed articles, reports, and general publications on ocean pollution, marine mammals, seafood safety, and public health.